Open House Picks
Park Slope 511 Fourth Street Corcoran Sunday 2:30-4:30pm $2,600,000 GMAP P*Shark Park Slope 609 6th Street Brown Harris Stevens Sunday 12-2pm $2,395,000 GMAP P*Shark Park Slope 380 Sixth Avenue Aguayo & Huebener Sunday 12-2pm $1,795,000 GMAP P*Shark Prospect Lefferts 26 Midwood Street Brown Harris Stevens Sunday 12:30-2:30pm $1,225,000 GMAP P*Shark Windsor Terrace 194 Ocean Parkway…
Park Slope
511 Fourth Street
Corcoran
Sunday 2:30-4:30pm
$2,600,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
609 6th Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 12-2pm
$2,395,000
GMAP P*Shark
Park Slope
380 Sixth Avenue
Aguayo & Huebener
Sunday 12-2pm
$1,795,000
GMAP P*Shark
Prospect Lefferts
26 Midwood Street
Brown Harris Stevens
Sunday 12:30-2:30pm
$1,225,000
GMAP P*Shark
Windsor Terrace
194 Ocean Parkway
Sommers Real Estate
Sunday 12-2pm
$1,200,000
GMAP P*Shark
Williamsburg
362 Union Avenue
Sotheby’s Int’l
Sunday 1-3pm
$975,000
GMAP P*Shark
Ok, so I’m joining this conversation on the late side but what I’m gonna say is pretty valid so hear me out. I’ve known PLG my whole life. My Godmother bought a limestone here in the 80’s and has lived here ever since. That’s over 25 years that she’s lived here. She has never once been mugged, shot or burgalarized in any way. She is a little Japanese lady. This neighborhood is not a rich one for sure,but that does not mean that is dangerous. Adversely I know plenty of people who have gotten mugged in supposedly safe and gentrified areas (E. Williamsburg, LES, Park Slope) the bottom line is, PLG is a neighborhood of homeowners and families. The more single family homes you have (a great number of the homes here are 1 and 2 family) the more pride of ownership there will be. People are too busy raising their kids here to get caught up in crime.
This thread makes me, currently in the process of selling in an area with even more black people than Prospect-Lefferts, want to stay where I am rather than come back and live in the Slope with you people.
On Feb 1 “Nativegal” wrote:”Lefferts Manor discourages for sale signs on the property being sold. Now why would that be?”
Its true that the Lefferts Manor Association has had a long tradition of discouraging “for sale”signs. I’m not sure if this goes back to the restrictions written into the deed covenants when the area was first sub-divided in 1893 (the Lefferts Manor Assoc. was founded in 1919 to enforce these covenants) or if it dates back to efforts to fight the “blockbusting” practiced by unscrupulous RE brokers in the early’60s(more likely, I think). I’ve been on the Lefferts Manor board for over 20 years and remember the matter of signs coming up for discussion frequently in the ’80s. I also wrote a number of letters to brokers who posted signs when I was LMA president in the early ’90s. However IIRC the organization has not taken action concerning “for sale” signs for a number of years. Nevertheless, many long term residents (even longer term than me!) are very protective about neighborhood traditions, so someone posting a “for sale” sign might very well hear disaproving remarks from neighbors–FWIW I think this adds to the small town charm of Lefferts Manor.
Sorry, I’m an idiot — I thought your 2nd post was a babs response. Clearly, I have now officially spent too much time on this thread. Actually, that was probably true 50 posts ago.
nativegal,
You think I was condescending? I was aiming for sarcastic. Your post said that PLG residents, unlike PS residents, use strollers less often because “there are so many things in walking distance.” As if the exact same thing were not true of Park Slope. Guess what? We’re next to the same park! And we have extensive commercial strips, restaurants, theaters — it’s not exactly a state secret.
I’m not saying there’s nothing to walk to around PLG — you’re close to stuff we’re not close to and vice versa — but I am saying it is flat-out laughable to suggest there is nothing to walk to around PS. So I didn’t get the logic of your post at all.
By “bashing,” I was thinking of overblown crap like “you’ll get shot if you move there” or “if you have kids, you should get the hell out.” I don’t mean that no one should criticize your neighborhood. Or mine, either.
babs,
That’s really strange — why would the seller care about anything but getting the best price? — but as I recall, you’re a real estate agent, so if you find it plausible, I gotta defer to you. Very sad if true.
Nativegal=linusvanpelt=babs=Anonymous
I have this nagging suspicion:
Nativegal=linusvanpelt=babs
I dunno why all the animosity to PLG — racism, conspiracy, whatever. But I think there is a totally legitimate case to make that PLG (imho) is pricing in several years of gentrification yet to come. I know that’s the case in a lot of Brooklyn, but from the listings I’ve seen here, it seems more aggressive on the PLG houses. I dunno why that either.
Posted by: linusvanpelt at January 31, 2006 11:01 PM
Here is something we agree on. I do think the pricing of some houses in Prospect-Lefferts Garden is very aggressive. I also think it has a lot to do with racism, but not in the way you might think. My husband & I looked for over 2yrs for our house in PLG. Part of the difficulty was that listings were very hard to find. The house we wound up buying was listed $114k above what we actually paid for it, even though it was only on the market 2wks. We thought we were over paying by aprox 20k, but we had the additional money and we really wanted to live in PLG. It turns out we over-paid by aprox $60k
In watching the subsequent asking vs selling prices in the neighborhood as well as the marketing, I get a distinct impression that the houses are priced so as to discourage people currently living in the neighborhood from even looking.
A case in point. The recent FSBO, HOD on Maple Street. The owner was publicly chastised for having a “For Sale†sign in the window. In a statement worded as a question the house seller was made aware that Lefferts Manor discourages for sale signs on the property being sold. Now why would that be?
Linusvanpelt, I find it interesting that you agree that the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens “bashing has become ridiculousâ€, without acknowledging your own participation in it. Please see your oh so condescending response to my previous post for an example. Your insinuation that all PLG has to offer with in walking distance is “the zoo and the botanic gardens†attempts to ignore Prospect Park itself as well as the multitudes of things available on the Prospect-Lefferts Gardens’ side of Prospect Park. Besides the zoo there are
1. The carrousel
2. Wollman Ice Skating Rink
3. The Audubon Center
4. Lefferts Homestead Museum
5. The Parade Grounds, offers tennis courts, baseball & soccer fields, etc.
Prospect-Lefferts Gardens is walking distance to 4 museums. Including the above mentioned Lefferts Homestead Museum, there is also
1. The Brooklyn Museum of Art
2. The Brooklyn children’s Museum
3. The Jewish Children’s Museum
I make a loop of 5 different area playgrounds and I can’t wait until my 2yo is old enough to go roller skating at the Empire Roller Rink, just as I did as a child.
Prospect-Lefferts Garden has tons more to offer, but there’s no need to give away any more of the “secrets†of the garden, to those determined not to appreciate them anyway…